All-Star Career Coaches

You're good. You may even show flashes of greatness. But you are not a champion. Not yet. "A champion," says James M. Citrin, author of The Dynamic Path, "is someone who has become the greatest individual contributor he can be." That applies to business as well as sports. As a senior director at Spencer Stuart, one of the world's foremost executive-recruitment firms, Citrin works with champions of the business world, helping the big-money bosses place CEOs and board directors at dozens of companies, such as Yahoo, Eastman Kodak, Motorola, and Microsoft.

To write The Dynamic Path, Citrin sat down with some of America's greatest sports champions -- from Arnold Palmer to Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong to Magic Johnson -- and looked for key components that make a champion. He also looked for the ingredients that make a champion evolve into a leader and eventually a legacy builder. Champion-grade performance starts with the basics you probably already know: work ethic, mental toughness, dedication to the job at hand. But there's more, says Citrin. Whether your game is golf, basketball, or accounting, there's always more. Here are six crucial training points you must remember as you strive to become a champion in your chosen arena.

Burn the Last 1 Percent

In any competition, holding something in reserve is a sign that you're afraid to fail, says Citrin. How so? It's difficult for some people to admit that they may not be as good as the competition. If you give your absolute all and still lose, then you're not the best and you have to face that. But by holding something back, you allow yourself to say, "Well, I'll just work harder next time." Wrong. Champions hate to lose, but they're never afraid to lose. "Lance Armstrong became an expert at not holding anything back, because the cancer took away his fear of losing," says Citrin. "It's all about taking that major risk. Do you have the courage to give 100 percent?"

Remake Yourself

A champion knows he won't find the zone by staying in a rut. He takes the difficult steps of unlearning and relearning. As good as he already was, Tiger Woods reinvented his golf swing not once but twice in his career. Those weren't just tweaks, says Citrin. Woods recognized that the only way to take his game to an even higher level was to start over and master something new. The result? "His tournament-winning percentage since mid-2006 is close to 60 percent," says Citrin. "He's playing better golf now and is as mentally tough as he's ever been."

Use "Directed" Practice

Any golfer can play a practice round. Any basketball player can enjoy a 60-minute shootaround. But championship-level play requires a stronger approach, says Citrin. Bjorn Borg, one of tennis's greatest champions, practiced in a way that was designed to eliminate his mind from the equation: He worked on one specific shot until he could perform it automatically in any situation, and then moved on to another shot. In a match, muscle memory and reflexes directed Borg's stroke without letting his brain get in the way of the shot. For golfers, Citrin offers this driving-range prescription: "Hit a pitching wedge toward a flag 100 yards away 200 times with the goal of getting the ball within 10 feet, 80 percent of the time," he says. "Do that for a couple of hours every weekend until you reach your goal." Then move on to another shot.

Stop Going for the Glory Shot

That amazing, winning shot makes you mentally rigid, not mentally tough, says Citrin. You're putting tremendous pressure on yourself to perform perfectly, especially if you've just made a mistake and want to recover. "Stop trying to win by trying to win," says Citrin. "The greatest competitors just let it happen." Citrin, an avid tennis player, notes that even at the most advanced levels, only about 20 percent of points are won with outright winning shots. The same holds true in golf: In a 72-hole tournament, a pro sinks only 15 to 20 birdies, or about 25 percent of all shots. The key to mental toughness and clear concentration is to play consistently and capitalize on opportunities instead of forcing them. Tiger Woods, says Citrin, is a master of this.

Prepare for Crossroads Before You See Them

True champions recognize times in their lives when they must evolve. After all, an athlete's skills eventually erode. This is even more crucial in a nonathletic career: You've become a champion-level performer in your field. Now you must take the next step. When Citrin counseled Emmitt Smith about his postfootball options, he encouraged him to evolve into something greater. (Greater even than the greatest NFL rusher of all time? Yes.)

Another Cowboy, Roger Staubach, is a prime example: During the off-seasons of his playing years, Staubach worked for a commercial real-estate firm in Dallas. By the time the QB retired, he knew the ins and outs of that industry and used his financial position, celebrity, and practical experience to start his own real-estate firm. On the other hand, "Emmitt didn't see the crossroad until it was upon him," Citrin says. "There are questions you can ask yourself at any time: Am I still learning and growing? Am I still motivated? Passionate? Are the big projects or opportunities still coming my way?"

Transition Into a Leadership Role

What happens to champions who refuse to evolve? They fall, says Citrin. Look at Pete Rose, Mike Tyson, and Darryl Strawberry. But the great ones move on to become great leaders. Don't think about leadership after you get the promotion, Citrin says. Plan now. The most unexpected and inspiring case in Citrin's opinion is skateboarder Tony Hawk. Although Hawk no longer competes, he still skates in exhibitions and has leveraged his celebrity to create the Tony Hawk Foundation, which helps build skate parks in inner-city neighborhoods to help at-risk kids. "He grew with his sport and helped millions of young people get into it, all of them exercising outside in a social environment. Hawk made skateboarding socially acceptable. His impact is huge." And that defines how a champion evolves into a leader: changing your focus to making those around you successful and in turn perpetuating your own championship-level success.

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